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school year abroad

Firenze

Posted on by Gigi in Holiday, Italy, Travel 1 Comment

 

Cafe

Cafe

Today after another strong cafe to start the day we walked around Viterbo for a bit, my son needed to pick up a few more gifts for his host family. I love the colors of the buildings, faded ocher, rose, and creamy whites so beautiful, the patina is spectacular. Everything has a history, and is not brand spanking new- all color coordinated like many of the communities back home.

Viterbo

Viterbo

Firenze-3

Viterbo

Viterbo

 

market

market

 

Once we were done we went to Reggie’s “home” to say goodbye to his family, once we leave we will not be coming back to Viterbo, we return home on Sunday and Reggie continues on to Paris with classmates for the reminder of the break. Part of the School Year Abroad program is independent travel in small groups within Europe, once you are proficient in the language.

I was excited to see Reggie’s home in the daylight. It is a strange feeling my little son living so far away for 9 months, so of course I wanted to see his abode, meet the guard dog that attacks visitors, see the 100 olive trees, the 3 cats, chat with his grandma and see his room again. He has grown so much in so many ways, not the child who I used to drive around all the time, he now goes to school on his own, has made a host of new friends, budgets his money and stays on top of his school work. Even though he goes to boarding school this is really different, when at home I can get to his school in under 2 hours, growing up is mandatory here.

gate to reggie's Italian home

gate to reggie’s Italian home

Reggie's host mom, sister and grandma

Reggie’s host mom, sister and grandma

kitty

kitty

 

We arrived in Firenze just before nightfall, thank goodness for GPS. The holiday decor at the 4 seasons is spectacular…

holiday decor

holiday decor

Firenze-20 Firenze-19 Firenze-25

4 seasons holiday decor

4 seasons holiday decor

 

We had a nice dinner at a veggie friendly restaurant in the center of town, although I prefer a vegan diet when at home, when I travel, especially to foreign countries I am a little more accommodating, I admire my vegan friends who are able to make things work worldwide. I just try and politely ask for substitutions and pick and choose things that I’m going to be happy with.

really good salad

really good salad

candle light dinner

candle light dinner

Firenze Street

Firenze Street

 

Tomorrow a big surprise for my son, can’t wait– until then Xoxo, Gigi

Gigi & family

Gigi & family

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Reginaldo In Italia

Posted on by Gigi in Family, Italy 6 Comments

 

Little Reggie

Little Reggie

A little over a week ago my 16 year old  son packed all his worldly possessions in to his suitcase in preparations for his school year abroad in Italy. I chuckled as he tired to stuff as many big tennis shoes as possible in to the large bag, that I could already see was going to be overweight. We traveled to Boston to meet up with the 50 + students who had come from all over the country to catch the flight together to Rome. It was bittersweet, while I was proud of my son for taking the risk to go to another country, learn a new language, become part of an Italian  family, I was still sad to see him go. I’m happy he has the intellectual curiosity to even want to do this, to step out of his comfort zone, but I know the separation will be difficult.

Reggie

Reggie

The room was filled with other glassy eyed parents, listening to cautionary tales the administrators were sharing with all of us, “your child will have freedom, there are no drinking restrictions in Italy, the academic program is rigorous, there is opportunity to travel around in small groups and yes your child will probably be home sick but please don’t call them more than once a week.” After exchanging small talk with random moms who were exchanging tidbits about their kids, it was time to walk to the terminal for check in. 21 boys and 34 girls, from a variety backgrounds, a sprinkling of “brown” children which I was happy to see, all of them already forming little groups laughing with one another, most of them like my son not knowing anybody prior to that day.

departure

departure

I remember last year when my son told me he wanted to apply to SYA (school year abroad), I was supportive, but at the same time not encouraging the process, I’m going to be honest there was a part of me that secretly thought that maybe he would not be accepted. Of course on March 15, as promised the acceptance letter arrived and I saw the biggest smile ever, his dream to study in Italy was becoming a reality. We were in Italy for the first time a few years ago and I remember Reggie said to me then “Mommy one day I am going to live here”.

Alitalia ticketing

Alitalia ticketing

I know this will be a transformative experience for my son and Reggie and I as a couple. We will be “empty nesters” for the next 10 months, no distractions of having a child at home to focus on, I will launch my photography shingle, and Reggie will play even more basketball. I just booked our tickets to go visit Reggie for Christmas and I had one phone call from him so far, letting me know how much he loves it there and that he can already speak Italian!

 

Gigi & Son

Gigi & Son

Reggie will be living in the charming city of Viterbo, located just north of Rome. SYA will celebrate 50 years of sending high school students abroad. They have four programs, France, Spain, Italy and China and summer programs as well.

SYA

SYA

Reggie promised me he would create a tumblr…no time for a real blog. So check him out at reggiechibiitalia.tumblr.com

Ciao,

GIGI

 

 

 

 

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